


Red Hearts

by Caitlin_WithanI



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Coming Out, Established Relationship, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22879624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitlin_WithanI/pseuds/Caitlin_WithanI
Summary: Cho and Jane are screwing, if only it was something more.
Relationships: Kimball Cho/Patrick Jane
Comments: 2
Kudos: 176





	Red Hearts

Cho hated it when Jane made bets with Rigsby. He always won, no surprise there, but usually Cho ended up watching something he definitely did not want to see: Jane flirting with other people. He knew he was jealous and what made it worse was he and Jane were just screwing around, colleagues with benefits. Cho didn’t have a right to say anything against it because it wasn’t like Jane was his. So, whenever they did start making bets, Cho held onto two things; 1. That Rigsby would always lose, and 2. Jane would be going home with him regardless of what happened during the bet. 

He imagined that Jane probably knew exactly how he felt about it. If Cho had to guess, Jane probably did it to rile him up which it did every time. Their post-case tumble in the sheets always made up for any insecurities Cho felt during the case. They were happy with their arrangement. And if Cho dreamed about them being more, then Jane never had to know. This case proved to be different. Jane had bet he could seduce Mrs Sands, the widow, and Rigsby had readily raised to his bait. She was pretty, but something about her seemed off to Cho, but being gay he never really saw women the way Rigsby described them. 

They’d both watched as Jane had swanned over to her, big smiles and caring eyes. He didn’t know why he let it happen every single time, as per usual it all went wrong, quickly. As soon as the lawyer moved Cho was over there, pulling Jane away with Rigsby help, apologising as they went. He’d paid for it later when Jane had cornered him in a bathroom stall back at the office, telling him just how much he enjoyed being manhandled by him as he jerked them both off. Cho rationally knew he shouldn’t let Jane seduce him at work, but he ignored that voice and let himself enjoy being the centre of Jane’s attention.

Later on, when he’d come back through the boat to find Jane at the other end of a gun Cho felt fear like he’d never experienced it and realised something monumental. At some point, Cho’s feelings for Jane had moved from friendly care to love, and he’d failed to notice (completely ignored it.) Once the gun was away, Cho had wanted to reach out to Jane, pull him into a tight hug, but he refrained. He could picture Lisbon’s surprised face just as well as he could hear Jane making fun of him for being worried. They were friends, nothing more. Jane always made this clear and his view would likely never change. Cho was a bit of fun to him, Cho knew that and was fine with it, he really was. He didn’t want to replace Jane’s late wife, knew he never could. 

Once they’d gotten Adrianna back to the office Cho had made Jane a cup of tea, his only way of saying ‘I’m glad you’re okay’ before Jane went to interrogation. Jane had given him a strange look, one Cho had never seen before, but he could tell he was being scrutinized and unwittingly read like a book. He waited in the observation room with Rigsby, secretly he loved seeing Jane in action. It always made pride swell up in him when Jane was right when he got the admission they needed without getting a gun pointed at him. Van Pelt did her bit, storming out and joining them as Jane sat down. Adrianna smiled at him, called him handsome. Rigsby had laughed when she’d asked him if he was gay, ‘a womaniser like Jane, yeah right,’ his comment got a laugh from Van Pelt, but Cho ignored them. 

‘Well not entirely, but I do have a boyfriend.’ Rigsby had choked on his coffee and Cho could see Lisbon’s eyes go wide at Jane’s admission. ‘You met him actually, Agent Cho, the one who arrested you.’ All Cho could do was close his eyes and pretend he didn’t exist. He could feel Rigsby and Van Pelt both staring at him and when he dared to open his eyes again, he could see their slack-jawed expressions in the reflection of the glass. 

‘Ah yes, the pretty one.’ It was all Adrianna said on the topic before she moved the interrogation on. Lisbon and Jane both moved on with her, but Cho could tell Rigsby was solely focused on him and Van Pelt had left the room. He knew she was very religious and the fact their friendship had probably just met a firm end felt awful. He just focused on the back of Jane’s head, wondering what the hell he’d just done. 

Once it was over Cho discreetly left to go hide. He sat on the roof of the building quietly, unsurprised when he heard the door open and Jane walked through it. He ignored him, staring straight ahead and Jane huffed before he sat next to him, nudging him with his shoulder. 

‘You’re mad at me,' was all Jane said, waiting for Cho to speak. Cho just wanted to hit him.

‘I am.’ He made sure to keep his face blank. He didn’t want Jane to see just how much his words had affected him. 

‘C’mon Kimball, you’ve gotta give me more than that.’

‘Why?’

‘Why, because I thought that’s what you wanted.’ So, Jane felt bad, for the fact Cho loves him and he doesn’t love him back. 

‘I don’t want your pity, go away.’

‘Pity? Kimball, what are you talking about?’

‘I’m talking about the fact the I love you and you don’t love me, so this is some half-assed offer because you feel bad.’ He hadn’t wanted to say it, he felt like he’d revealed too much, but it was out now.  
Jane was speechless, a first no doubt. Cho just waited for him to leave but he never moved. ‘I’m so sorry Cho,’ did he really need to say it, Cho just wanted to be left alone to cry, ‘I thought you knew how much I loved you, clearly we need to use words more.’

‘What?’ He was looking at Jane now, but he couldn’t see any lie in his face, Jane looked unbearably open and honest. 

‘I love you Kimball Cho.’ Jane took his hand, squeezing it tight. ‘I know we haven’t talked about us at all, but I thought you could see how much I cared about you. You’d been looking so sad recently, I figured maybe you wanted the team to know but you didn’t want to ask.’

‘I thought we were just screwing around.’

‘Yeah, I figured that out earlier. I thought you were going to do something on the boat, but you didn’t and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. So, Cho, will you be my boyfriend?’

‘No,’ Jane’s face fell, ‘I’ll be your partner, we aren’t in high school.’ He laughed as Jane lit up, he leaned forward and kissed him. When they parted, he hit Jane on the arm.

‘What was that for?’ Jane rubbed at his arm. 

‘That was for outing us in front of the team without talking to me first. I don’t think Van Pelt is ever going to talk to me again.’

‘Don’t worry, Van Pelt came back just before I came up here, she got a celebratory cake.’ Cho laughed then kissed Jane again, happy that he could call him his partner.


End file.
